Feelings towards multi faith homes?

Lau2976

I was curious as to the feelings that Christians, being that Ireland is a very clearly Christian country, feel towards multi faith homes.

I was raised with no religion but my mother is Jewish and my father is catholic and most of my sisters have picked one of the religions up over the years, a friend of my sisters recently commented that she felt as though my sister wasn't a true catholic as she hadn't the same experiences growing up (communion, confirmation)

Do you think that Catholicism is a culture as well as a religion (being that you aren't really a catholic if you don't have the same cultural upbringing as a traditional catholic in ireland)?

Would you think someone brought up in a multifaith home be less catholic because of this?

Or is this opinion not one that's shared?

Peregrinus

Obviously, in so far as Catholicism is a cultural identity as well as a religious faith, it is possible to be Catholic by faith, but not to share experiences and/or attitudes considered "typically Catholic".

Something similar is, of course, true of Judaism. You can be Jewish by descent, but not be raised as a Jew, not be a religious Jew and indeed be completely ignorant of Judaism.

In both cases, the religious authorities would say the same thing - you are Catholic, or you are Jewish, as the case may be, 100%. And furthermore they would also say that cradle Catholics/Jews have no business denigrating your Catholicness/Jewishness or suggesting that it is in any sense second class or second rate. They might say there is still stuff that you need to learn, but that's about as far as it would go.

That's not to say, of course, that you won't get some blowback from individuals. But in fact the are probably going against the official positions of their own religion in saying that kind of thing.

Juza1973

Lau2976 wrote: »

Do you think that Catholicism is a culture as well as a religion (being that you aren't really a catholic if you don't have the same cultural upbringing as a traditional catholic in ireland

When you are baptised it doesn't matter what your cultural roots lie, you are part of the Church, Catholics are not a people and in fact they have very different cultures. Obviously there are traditions involved with being Catholic but there are Traditions with a capital T (the faith and the Spirit) and mere traditions, who are not as important Although they are too part of the life of the Christian. Still there is no prize for having arrived first, anybody is 100% Catholic as soon as they are baptised. This is the ruling of Christ.

am946745

Hi, I'm Catholic and my wife is from a Jewish Family from Ukraine. Have the two faiths has enriched our kids enormously. Most of my wife's family has been killed, or rather all of them except her grandmother who married a Catholic some 80 years ago.

lazybones32

Catholicism isn't an Irish construct or invention, so there's no religious difference between an Irish, English, Mexican or Chinese Catholic (provided they subscribe to the same rite). There will be cultural differences and this will be reflected in the practice of the faith - Mexican Catholics celebrate feast days with processions and a feast of food and music; Irish Catholics might have a more solemn procession - a walk up the town and back down again. African Catholics like to sing and clap their hands during Mass but Irish Catholics, for a large part, wouldn't dream of doing such a thing.

katydid

Juza1973 wrote: »

When you are baptised it doesn't matter what your cultural roots lie, you are part of the Church, Catholics are not a people and in fact they have very different cultures. Obviously there are traditions involved with being Catholic but there are Traditions with a capital T (the faith and the Spirit) and mere traditions, who are not as important Although they are too part of the life of the Christian. Still there is no prize for having arrived first, anybody is 100% Catholic as soon as they are baptised. This is the ruling of Christ.

Yes, but Irish Roman Catholicism is very different to, say, American Roman Catholicism, culturally. We can't ignore the cultural dimension.

Juza1973

katydid wrote: »

Yes, but Irish Roman Catholicism is very different to, say, American Roman Catholicism, culturally. We can't ignore the cultural dimension.

Of course it cannot be ignored, but it is on a completely different plane from what really makes the Catholic faith. Reducing everything to culture is an exercise that I expect from a sociologist (in good faith) or a politician (in bad faith), not from a Catholic.

katydid

Juza1973 wrote: »

Of course it cannot be ignored, but it is on a completely different plane from what really makes the Catholic faith. Reducing everything to culture is an exercise that I expect from a sociologist (in good faith) or a politician (in bad faith), not from a Catholic.

It's relevant to the question asked in the OP. Religion and culture are tied up, however you look at it. Of course Roman Catholicism is the same basically in every country, on a spiritual level, but methods of practicing it do vary.

Juza1973

katydid wrote: »

It's relevant to the question asked in the OP. Religion and culture are tied up, however you look at it. Of course Roman Catholicism is the same basically in every country, on a spiritual level, but methods of practicing it do vary.

Yes in relation to the question the different methods of practising it will never mean that someone is not a true Catholic because of that (either you are Catholic or you aren't, regardless of how much of a good Catholic you are)

Peregrinus

katydid wrote: »

It's relevant to the question asked in the OP. Religion and culture are tied up, however you look at it. Of course Roman Catholicism is the same basically in every country, on a spiritual level, but methods of practicing it do vary.

It's more than just methods of practice that vary. Catholicism (and I think every other religious tradition) is complex, deeply layered, and incorporates a variety of perspectives, and for cultural and social reasons the religion will not only be expressed differerent at different times and places, but there may be different emphases accorded to different aspects of the faith. It's not a coincidence that Liberation Theology, say, emerges in Latin America, or that Irish Catholicism became much more puritan after the famine, or that French Catholicism became reactionary after the French Revolution.

And this goes for all religions. Fundamentalist biblical literalism emerged, and is still strongest in, the US; this is not a coincidence. And the differing tendencies that are currently stressing worldwide Anglicanism are strongly geographically correlated.

katydid

Juza1973 wrote: »

Yes in relation to the question the different methods of practising it will never mean that someone is not a true Catholic because of that (either you are Catholic or you aren't, regardless of how much of a good Catholic you are)

Yes, I agree with that.

Mrs OBumble

Lau2976 wrote: »

a friend of my sisters recently commented that she felt as though my sister wasn't a true catholic as she hadn't the same experiences growing up (communion, confirmation)

Ahh, assuming that your sister is one who has picked up Catholicism:

I would say that your sister is more of a "true Catholic" because she experienced first confession, communion etc at a time when her faith journey took her toward them and she was ready to do so, rather than doing so at age seven because everyone was doing it for the cash.

In fact, I'd put the sister's friend's comment in the same basket as ones I've heard from Irish people who are CoI members: some don't feel they are truly Irish, because they've not had the same childhood experiences as the Catholic kids did.